Graduate Student Resources

GRADUATE STUDENT HANDBOOK

STONE CENTER FOR LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES GRADUATE STUDENT HANDBOOK

 

DOCUMENTS AND FORMS 

 

FINANCIAL AID, RESEARCH SUPPORT, PRIZES 

STONE CENTER ACADEMIC YEAR FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES 

Graduate Student Professional Travel Grants 

The Stone Center encourages the professional development of its graduate students by offering grants to offset some of the costs of presenting research papers at academic conferences. Only students enrolled in the Latin American Studies graduate programs are eligible to apply for such grants.

Graduate students may apply for support in one of the following categories: round trip airfare up to $500, two nights hotel/lodging per diem (up to $250/night), two days of Meals & Incidentals per diem, OR conference registration. 

Deadlines for funding requests are the following:
SEPTEMBER 1 for conferences that take place over the Fall Semester (September - December)
JANUARY 1 for conferences that take place over the Spring Semester (January - April)
MAY 1 for conferences that take place over the Summer (May - August)

Funds are awarded on a first-come, first-serve basis until funds are depleted.

Download a copy of the sample application

For additional policies and procedures visit Graduate Student Professional Travel Policies. Please note that all university-funded travel must be booked through World Travel Service either by using the University's CONCUR system (recommended) or by booking directly with World Travel Service, and must be done in accordance with Tulane University's New Travel Policy (2022). If you will be traveling to a country that has an official travel warning designation, you will need to complete an online high risk international travel form with the Tulane Global office. The Center for Global Education has an excellent, simple explanation and set of instructions for how to do this.

Apply for Graduate Student Professional Travel Funding

 

Guest Lecture or Performance Grants

The Stone Center provides grants to support individual public guest lectures and performances with significant Latin American content. Priority is given to those events for which there is both programmatic and funding collaboration across multiple departments or units. Student representatives of on-campus student organizations may apply for funding with a faculty sponsor. 

This program is not intended to fund large-scale events with costs greater than $1,000.  

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis starting July 1 for each fiscal year (July 1- June 30). 

Review Guest Lecture or Performance Additional Guidelines 

Download the sample application

Apply for Guest Lecture or Performance Funding

 

Graduate School Academic Year Fellowships

School of Liberal Arts University Fellowships provide a fellowship stipend and a tuition waiver. As a condition of this funding, each fellow must provide either service or teaching for the Stone Center. M.A. Students must serve for 6 hours per week as a Research and Project Associate (RPA) and Ph.D. Candidates must either serve as a Teaching Assistant or as a Research and Project Associate. All students who apply for admission to the MA or Ph.D. program in Latin American Studies are automatically considered for an academic year fellowship. There are no additional forms or application materials that need to be submitted for fellowship consideration. 

 

SUMMER FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

The Stone Center for Latin American Studies invites all Tulane University graduate students engaged in the study of Latin America or the Caribbean to apply for funding to conduct preliminary field research outside of the United States, for intensive study of a Less Commonly Taught Language, OR to attend specialized technical training summer programs during the summer. There is only one online application form for summer funding. Applicants may only choose one of the following three funding categories.

Field Research Funding

The Stone Center for Latin American Studies invites all Tulane University graduate students who conduct research on Latin America or the Caribbean to apply for funding to conduct field research outside of the United States during the summer. These field research grants are not to be used for dissertation research, but rather to provide graduate students who have little to no field research experience with an opportunity to explore the feasibility of a particular field research project and to gain experience in conducting preliminary hands-on field research abroad.  

There are two sources of funding for this program: 

  • Tinker Field Research funds are generously provided through a grant from the Tinker Foundation and are open to graduate students conducting thesis or pre-dissertation field research at the Master’s, early-stage doctoral levels, or for professional degrees in Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking Latin American and Caribbean countries. 
  • Stone Center Field Research funds are open to graduate students conducting research on Latin America or the Caribbean who do not qualify for Tinker Field Research grants.  Funding to countries outside of Latin America or the Caribbean will be considered under certain circumstances. 

All summer field research grants are intended for brief periods of field work (max. 30 days) and for projects that only be achieve through research in the field.  Graduate students may apply for round-trip airfare, in-country travel, lodging, and modest subsistence expenses. These grant programs do not cover expenses such as equipment, labor costs (i.e. site excavations, transcriptions, in-country research assistants), or registrations for conferences or workshops.

Intensive Summer Language Study

The Stone Center for Latin American Studies provides  funding for graduate students who have an interest in attending one of the Stone Center’s Summer Intensive Language study abroad programs in Brazilian Portuguese or Kaqchikel Maya, or for Tulane University graduate students who have a pressing need to study another less commonly taught language of the region as a requirement for their doctoral studies. This funding program acts as a scholarship covering the cost of program fees and issued directly to the program administrators. The award does not provide a cash disbursement to awardees.. A listing of other LCTL language programs is prepared by CLASP and available on-line.

Summer Technical Training

Applications for specialized technical training program funding will be accepted for graduate students who demonstrate a clear and pressing need for such training in order to advance their doctoral programs. Such programs could include training in technical methodologies or critical theory application. Please consult the complete summer technical training program grant guidelines below for more detailed information on eligibility and application procedures.

How to Apply

1. Download the 2025 Stone Center Summer Funding Opportunities for Graduate Students in Latin American and the Caribbean Call for Proposals (PDF).

2. Download the 2025 Sample Application Form (PDF).

3. To apply, complete the 2025 SCLAS Graduate Student Summer Funding Application (on-line Qualtrics form). 

For more information click here to check out a recording of our Graduate Summer Funding Information Session.

 

OTHER SOURCES OF FUNDING

GSSA/OGPS Travel Funding

School of Liberal Arts Graduate Student Summer Research and Write-Up Award

School of Liberal Arts Doctoral Dissertation Completion Fellowships

J.E. Land Fund for School of Liberal Arts Graduate Student Travel

CELT Resource List of University-wide Funding Opportunities 

Taylor Center for Social Innovation & Design Thinking Awards

 

Graduate Student Organizations and Activities

LAGO

The primary relationship between the Stone Center and its graduate students is on an individual basis. Students ordinarily address individual questions and concerns to the appropriate individual in the office. However, the Stone Center recognizes the Latin Americanist Graduate Organization (LAGO) as the official conduit to the Administration of Latin American Studies and the Stone Center. LAGO is the channel through which collective complaints and concerns are voiced and addressed, as well as the organization through which collective student feedback about the Center is provided to the Center administration. 

Concerns that are not effectively resolved on an individual basis should be brought to the attention of LAGO during their regularly scheduled meetings. In those meetings, members will discuss the issues and determine whether or not they need to be drawn to the attention of the Executive Director of the Stone Center. In addition, LAGO is the channel through which suggestions and reviews about the effective functioning of the Project Associate Program should flow. 

Reciprocally, LAGO is the organization to which the Stone Center administration should direct any collective concerns, suggestions, or issues that cannot be handled on an individual basis or through mechanisms already in place (i.e. memos to students, fliers announcing Center-sponsored events, etc.). The President of LAGO is the official point of contact for LAGO in its relationship to the Stone Center, though other LAGO officers are always welcome to represent the organization in front of the Stone Center as well.

Stone Center Academic Awards

Students are eligible for departmental and university awards. The Stone Center holds an awards ceremony each spring to honor excellence in academia among its graduate students and among Latin Americanist scholarship. The following awards are presented on an annual basis: 

  • The Stone Center Award for Best Campus-Wide Graduate Paper on a Latin American Topic 
  • The Richard E. Greenleaf Award for the best social science paper written by a student in the Latin American Studies interdisciplinary graduate program. 
  • The Donald Robertson Award for the best paper in the humanities by a student in the Latin American Studies interdisciplinary graduate program. 
  • The William J. Griffith Award for Outstanding Teaching Assistant in Latin American Studies 
  • LAGO Outstanding Graduate Student Service Award 
  • A full listing of all Stone Center Academic Awards, prize guidelines, and links to most of the prize winning papers, can be accessed on our Stone Center Awards and Prizes Webpage

GENERAL ACADEMIC ADVISING, POLICIES, AND PROCEDURES

A complete review of advising, policies, and procedures for graduate students is located in the Graduate Studies Handbook. 

 

CONTACT INFORMATION 
Please contact the Stone Center staff with any questions.